The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1887-09-12
GAMBLING IN LEADvILLE.
The Famous Mining Town of Leadville
is Good and Bad in Spots.

10 d mistake. LeadVllle has Its morals and
Its vices, and the relations between them
are somewhat peculiar. 1t is submitted
without argument that community which
sends the President of its First National
Bank to the penltentiary for ten years can
not be said to be without considerable moral
tone. Leadville did Just that with man
who had betrayed trust, and so far has re-
solutely refused to join in a sentimental
movement for pardon. An assayer of good
position, who had loaned his science to a
conspiracy for stealing rich ore, followed
the banker down the Grand Canyon and
into retirement behind the bars Mine Off
Gals and others have gone the same way for
plundering employers The Leadville code
Is not an extensive one, but justice follows
swift and sure upon infractions of it. Hav-
ing decided to tolerate gambling Leadville
does so in the most open-handed manner
Some of the best locations on the avenue
are giving up to the votaries of tickle for
tune. There is none of the hypocrisy of
half-drawn blinds The doors are thrown
wide open and from the street can be
seen at any time the green tables sur
rounded by the players, while the click of
the chips and the bawling of the man at
the keno goose fall upon the ears of the
passer-by. Gambling in Leadville is bust
ness.
Our running expenses" said Con Feath-
erly one of the proprietors of the Texas,
ARE $500 a month. When the house
opened in 1879 it ran behind steadily for six
months, and came pretty near going under.
Then it took turn for the better and ran
ahead. If we take in $4,000 or $4,000 a
month we are pretty well satisfied. That
pays running expenses and leaves a margin
for profit
Downstairs there is the bar on one side,
gorgeous with its mammoth mirror and its
array of cut glass. A lunch counter lust
across the way is also doing business On
blackboards are displayed the scores of the
days base ball games, the results of the
races and the grain and stock quotations
from the East. To the right is room with
half dozen games of faro in progress, and
open to all comers Back of the faro room
is the business office of the establishment.
Then comes long, high chamber, where
hundred men try, hour after hour, to put
hve buttons in a row on numbered card,
while loudvoiced young man whirls the
goose and calls out the number on each lit
tie ball as it falls into his hand. There are
electric devices to show at a glance the
exact number of cards taken out and the
consequent pot to go to the holder of the
winning card. This is keno 1t is the
popular game, and the noisy one as well, SO
the players are shut into a big room bv
themselves. But faro and keno are only two
of the games which the Texas provides for
its patrons Adjoining the keno room the
roulette has its corner, and a pleasant-faced
man whirls the wheel and the marble in op-
posite directions, reciting in low well
modulated voice:
BLACK or red, odd or even, high or low.
Thirtv-tive for a single number. Round and
round the little ball goes. Roll it for your
self if you like
Roulette, the great game of the European
resorts is not popular in Leadville. Now
and then young clerk or laboring man
will stop and risk a dollar on the black or
red, but the play is seldom heavy. The fact
is, the wheel is rather under suspicion in the
Western country. Smart gamblers have
been able to fix it up by magnetism and
electrical currents so that the little marble
found its way too often to the single or the
90, both of which sweep the board for the
house. Mexicans like roulette, but Ameri-
cans give it a wide berth. The dice table,
where the dealer sits behind a monstrous
box and rattles down the cubes, is better
patronized. ''Stud-horse poker has some
admirers, but straight poker is always sure
of q tableful In the rooms on the first
hooreverybody comes and goes at will
Mem reach over each others shoulders to
lay down their bets. Up stairs there are
rooms better furnished for those who prefer
to be a little more secluded Down stairs is
betters
1.-The largest winning at single setting
that remember said Mr. Featherly, after
taking few moments to consider the cues
ton, was $4,000. recollect a big game
we had one Saturday night in the front
room. We had been playing all the even
ing, and about II O'Clock there was some
talk of stopping. The house was out s., 500
on the game. One or two of the PLAYERS
started to go, but came back and said that
it was showing so that man couldn't see
ten feet ahead of him So the game was
kept up all night, until 8 o'clock Sunday
morning, and when we stopped the house
was $4,000 ahead, besides recovering
the $500 behind at II o'clock the night be.
FORE
"These big games are sometimes affected
by things which people who do not gamble
would consider trivial" continued Mr.
Featheriy 'We had game going one
night in the back room and the principal
players were two Eastern men who had
come here to buy mine. They had drafts
in their pockets for 100000 One was
man worth 100000 or $5,000,0 900. The
betting was heavy About IL O'Clock some
of the rooms were closed. The players were
into the game about 81, 500. For some rea-
son we moved from the back room into the
front room and went on. The players made
a few bets, fdgeted about and then quit
The moving from one room to another had
broken the charm. Ii we had kept on in
the back room the game would have run all
night, probably, and $4,000 might have
changed hands. | talked to the players
about it afterward, and they said that it
was the change of rooms that made them
stop. This may sound odd to those who
don't know anything about the little infiu-
ences which affect playing, but all gamblers
will understand it,"
Talnage visited Leadville once, and it fell
to the lot of the good Major Bohn to show
him the town. II wantto see it ALL" said
the preacher, and the Major gave up two
nights to the JOB. Some time after midnight
of the second round the pair drew up in
front of the hotel
'Have | seen everything" asked the
divine
Everything" replied the Major con-
scientiously.
II have been much instructed" said the
preacher.
He had Stunned" excessively in New
York, but he admitted that Leadville could
give him points. Standing on Harrison
avenue and looking westward aloIse State
street, the visitor has spread before him a
district of a few hundred yards which
contains more concentrated wickedness than
any similar strip Of ground on the Ameri-
can continent. New York not barred. Vice
here displays her most hideous mien, and is
rapturously embraced. The locality is given